Chapter 97: Dan Ning Dun's Successful Soul Mutation

In recent years, the Lord God's avatar residing on the material plane, besides cultivating, has also regularly attempted to study the Nether Scorpion essence blood left by Fei Si Te, and with Hai Yinxi nearby able to conduct experiments directly, it has therefore achieved some results;

The Nether Scorpion, as a divine beast, besides its robust body, also carries a soul toxin deep within its soul; whenever its innate divine skill strikes, this toxin remains in the target's soul, devouring the opponent's soul. Removing it is difficult and must be done in a safe place;

If one remains in combat for a short time, the effect will inevitably be massive.

This trait is somewhat similar to the soul toxin Xiao En has been developing, so he considered integrating this toxicity into his own soul toxin or soul attack, but after many trials he failed, mainly because the test subjects were insufficient; Hai Yinxi was only an ordinary Nether Scorpion, whose soul cultivation was too low, yielding no results;

The one before him, however, possesses Seven-Star Demon strength; judging by the power of its divine beast talent, it seems to have already devoured other Nether Scorpions.

Xiao En's thought lasted only an instant and did not affect the nearby battle; within the Nether Scorpion's illusion, a soul attack shot out.

Opposite him, Dan Ning Dun had already prepared; his whole body's energy surged, countless soul forces encircled him—exactly the technique he just used against Xiao En—but now, empowered by the Death Lord God's might, its power multiplied a hundredfold.

"Swoosh~~~" two soul attacks shot toward each other, but they did not collide in the air; instead they missed each other.

"Is Dan Ning Dun thinking that even if he's injured he must kill the opponent?" Xiao En immediately speculated; otherwise a midair collision, regardless of strength, would be safer.

However, if it were someone else, Xiao En wouldn't care, but this is a Nether Scorpion with Seven-Star power; he could not let such a being die, so his figure flashed, appearing near A Lie Fu, and a soul attack instantly erased Dan Ning Dun's.

"You?" A Lie Fu looked puzzled; wasn't that person Dan Ning Dun's? Not attacking him would be enough, but why save him?

Dan Ning Dun, not far away, was also stunned, but he had no time to react; the Nether Scorpion's innate divine skill struck him directly, his entire soul aura surged violently, and his body suddenly faltered, causing him to faint.

"Dead?" Xiao En was almost dumbfounded; he sensed Dan Ning Dun's soul aura was nearly gone.

"Hahaha, Dan Ning Dun, you finally died; it wasn't in vain that I specifically fetched the strongest soul toxin from the Netherworld," A Lie Fu laughed arrogantly, ignoring Xiao En beside him.

"Soul toxin?" Xiao En glanced back, then launched a soul attack that struck the fleeing A Lie Fu.

Soon, A Lie Fu's body trembled; kneeling, he said, "I salute the master."

Xiao En asked, "Show me the soul toxin from the Netherworld you just mentioned."

"Yes, master." A Lie Fu carefully handed over a magical cloth-wrapped packet, saying, "This is the soul toxin I found at Hongyang Mansion on the Nether Continent; it is said to be the strongest soul toxin in the entire Netherworld."

"Hongyang Mansion is indeed interesting," Xiao En shook his head helplessly;

The soul toxin in A Lie Fu's hand was actually something he had forged before Great Perfection; although it couldn't match what he now refines, it still contained the power of a soul pearl and was quite potent.

In his early wanderings of the Netherworld, he also started from the middle and lower tiers; to survive and gather cultivation resources, he once became a Death Rule Master of soul toxin forging, and some highly toxic soul toxins were even sold.

These soul toxins weren't extraordinarily overpowered, so they didn't attract the Lord God's or peak cultivators' attention; thus safety concerns were minor, not enough to cause self-immolation, yet unexpectedly Dan Ning Dun was affected today.

But Xiao En then asked, "This soul toxin should easily kill a typical Seven-Star demon, but it might be insufficient for Dan Ning Dun; did you integrate this toxin into your innate divine skill?"

A Lie Fu replied, "Yes, I studied for many years before succeeding, though it's not perfect; the price of forcibly integrating it is that I myself also endure the erosion of this soul toxin;

However, this also amplified my innate divine skill's power by five or six times; the cost is still worthwhile, especially since it can kill my mortal enemy—so even if my soul shatters, it is worth it."

"What grudge do you hold against Dan Ning Dun?" Xiao En asked casually.

A Lie Fu replied, "Reporting, master, that Dan Ning Dun once, while challenging a Seven-Star demon, killed a close friend of mine, which later led to his family's extermination. That friend had saved me many times, so I naturally seek revenge."

"Oh, fine, never mind," Xiao En, who naturally doesn't care about such matters—since the divine plane is just ordinary, neither good nor bad—said, "Tell me how you merged the soul toxin into your innate divine skill."

"Yes, master." A Lie Fu immediately said, "It goes like this, to..."

Xiao En listened attentively, and after a while praised, "Good method; it bypassed the repulsion between souls. Though I still suffered erosion, it was still quite successful."

A Lie Fu laughed, "This is because I have studied my own soul traits and the Nether Scorpion's characteristics for countless trillions of years, gaining enough understanding to succeed;

Many divine beasts indeed have innate divine skills, but they never study them, merely using them passively; that wastes talent. In fact, in-depth research can make one's innate divine skill even stronger."

"Right, well said; you are indeed a person of great perseverance," Xiao En praised.

In the Panlong World, many things are innate—such as cultivation talent, race, innate divine skills, and so on—but others can also be studied, though the difficulty is extremely high;

The Fate Sovereign Ouf is an example; he strengthened his body to Divine Artifact level and also devised the overpowered technique "Transcendence of Reincarnation"; the Destruction Sovereign Utreid is similar, having created "Temporal-Spatial Chaos".

Xiao En also tried to research such powerful techniques, but in the short term he could only study the Nether Scorpion; the time was perhaps too brief, yielding little result, yet A Lie Fu's method was somewhat helpful to him.

A Lie Fu said, "Thank you, master, for the praise."

Xiao En suddenly asked, "You should still have a divine avatar out there, right?"

"Yes, I also have a Death Rule divine avatar; my Nether Scorpion divine beast is born with the Dark Law, also bearing the Death Rule talent," A Lie Fu said, "My divine avatar now resides in the hellish city."

"Alright, go find your divine avatar, and figure out how to merge. After merging, my soul seed will also control it," Xiao En said indifferently.

Although the Death Rule cannot create a soul‑seed‑controlled divine avatar at a distance, it can make the avatar under soul‑seed control seek another normal divine avatar; once merged, the soul power will affect the other.

It can be said to make oneself fight oneself, which greatly frightens others.

When dealing with the Four Divine Beast families before, if I hadn't considered the opponent's Lord God background, I would have directly used the soul seed; whether other divine avatars existed was irrelevant.

A Lie Fu bowed and said, "Yes, master, after we merge, where should we go to find you?"

"After success, go to the Flowing Cloud Island Teleportation Array in the Sea of Chaos, then to a material plane called Yunyan; once there, someone will be looking for you," Xiao En added.

Traveling from the divine plane to the material plane is costly, with few teleportations; therefore such records stand out. If too many records point to the Qingyuan Plane, a bored Lord God might take notice.

Although on one's own plane, one's Lord God avatar won't be discovered by other Lord Gods, there's no need for complications; simply send these people to the nearest material plane, and later retrieve them.

Since they're all under the soul seed, these people won't betray him, and they'll stay long in the Qingyuan material plane; he won't let them leave freely.

"Yes, master." After bowing, A Lie Fu glanced again at Dan Ning Dun lying on the ground, let out a cold snort, and left.

Even if controlled by the soul seed, it only adds loyalty to the master; past love, hate, and grudges remain unless they interfere with the master's interests, which would cause obstruction.

After A Lie Fu left, Xiao En also glanced at Dan Ning Dun lying on the ground; his divine sense reached out and suddenly discovered that Dan Ning Dun still retained a trace of soul aura, and around him were some very weak energy fluctuations;

"Not dead?" Xiao En felt a hint of surprise, then leapt forward and immediately sensed the faint surrounding energy fluctuations, which were the Death Rule and the Destruction Rule.

"Soul mutation?"

Xiao En had never seen this before; although he himself had undergone a soul mutation, that occurred during the material plane's Sacred Realm period, and he was unaware of the mutation, remaining in a coma;

Even after wandering the supreme planes and divine planes for billions of years, he never witnessed a soul mutation; the probability is astronomically low— even the number of masters he has seen successfully mutate their souls is less than a handful, making a chance encounter almost impossible.

"Interesting, Dan Ning Dun actually underwent a soul mutation."

Historically, Dan Ning Dun was certainly not a soul‑mutated being, but because of Xiao En's intervention, A Lie Fu obtained his own soul toxin, and combined with his innate divine skill, severely wounded Dan Ning Dun;

But because I am here, A Lie Fu was diverted by his own soul seed; otherwise, after grievously wounding Dan Ning Dun and discovering his soul mutation, he would have casually slain many soul‑mutated individuals—not dying during the mutation, but the mutation after being attacked would inevitably be detected by the enemy and then killed. In the original work, Lin Lei's case was also due to the interference of the Great Perfection's Azure Fire, which caused Magnus to depart.

Nevertheless, the risk of soul mutation itself is great; even for dual‑path cultivators, the risk remains high.

"Better move him to another place first."

Shawn also really wants to know whether Dan Ning Dun can endure it; if he makes it through, then achieving Great Perfection later will surely be interesting.

Of course, a soul‑mutated strongman who reaches the Asura Realm actually has little advantage, unless he becomes a Lord God and gains fused Lord‑God power; but now he has confirmed that between Heaven and Earth there is no vacancy for a Lord God of destruction or death, so even if Dan Ning Dun attains Great Perfection, that is all he can achieve.

Divine power surged, and the ground around Dan Ning Dun and Shawn began to collapse; the two quickly fell to tens of thousands of meters underground, a great depth, and then they set up a magic array to conceal the energy fluctuations.

Unless a Lord God probes, no one could discover this place.

Half a month later, Dan Ning Dun's soul aura dropped to the extreme, so low that even Shawn dared not investigate casually.

Then, after a twist of fate, Dan Ning Dun's soul began to strengthen, a massive amount of dual‑system rule power gathered around them, reinforcing their soul.

Seven months later, when Shawn felt that Dan Ning Dun's soul intensity seemed to stabilize, his finger suddenly moved, and Dan Ning Dun opened his eyes.

After instantly realizing that they seemed to have been wounded by Aref's innate divine skill, Dan Ning Dun's divine consciousness scattered, finding no one around, yet they were inside a magic array, not understanding why; nevertheless, they immediately felt divine power surge through their whole body and discovered that their divine power had become much stronger.

"What is this?" Dan Ning Dun said, surprised, looking at the black divine power enveloping their body, where death and destruction divine power had merged.

"Congratulations, Dan Ning Dun, your soul mutation succeeded."

A familiar voice came from behind; Dan Ning Dun was startled, turned around, and saw the mysterious person from before.

"My soul mutated? It seems real," Dan Ning Dun said, also noticing that their soul power had increased tenfold, then quickly looked at Shawn: "Who are you? Why did my soul mutate yet I cannot detect you?"

As a Seven‑Star Demon of Hell, Dan Ning Dun has some understanding of soul mutation; such people's strength may not be peak, but their soul‑searching ability exceeds that of a peak Asura.

Shawn smiled, "My name is Shawn."

Now to reclaim Dan Ning Dun and make him serve you, you must not reveal your Lord‑God identity, yet you have to reveal your Great Perfection identity; otherwise who would follow you?

Of course, a Soul Seed is also possible, but Soul Seeds affect cultivation; Shawn, like Parhaus, hopes Dan Ning Dun can achieve Great Perfection, which would be useful for his future, and if he cannot, he would merely be a peak Asura, making the presence or absence of a Soul Seed of little significance.

"Shawn? You are the Ascended Great Perfection God Shawn?" Dan Ning Dun said, very surprised.

He has also investigated the Great Perfection between Heaven and Earth; perhaps some things he cannot uncover, but Shawn's reputation was so great that he first defeated another Great Perfection, Magnus, on a planar battlefield, then clashed with the Four Beast Clan, forcing the Four Beast Clan to cower.

Throughout Hell, many people have been bullied by the Four Beast Clan; many are delighted to see the Four Beast Clan suffer setbacks.

Shawn smiled, "That's right, I am."

PS: Please give monthly tickets.

(End of chapter)